Skip to main content
Earnings Labs

Renasant Corporation (RNST) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Renasant Corporation logo

Renasant Corporation (RNST)

Q3 2026 Earnings Call· Wed, Oct 28, 2026

$39.66

-4.52%

Renasant Corporation Q3 2026 Earnings Call Key Takeaways

AI summary not available yet

Be the first to generate an AI summary of this earnings call. Takes about 20 seconds, and the result is saved and available to everyone afterwards.

Renasant Corporation Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Renasant Corporation 26 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist for assistance. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kelly W. Hutcheson. Please go ahead.

Kelly W. Hutcheson

Management

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Renasant Corporation's quarterly web and conference call. Participating in the call today are members of Renasant's executive management team. Before we begin, please note that many of our comments during this call will be forward looking statements which involve risk and uncertainty. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the mix and cost of our funding sources, interest rate fluctuation, regulatory changes, portfolio performance, realization of the projected financial metrics from our recently announced merger with Commercial Holding Company and other factors discussed in our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recently filed earnings release and the press release announcing the proposed merger. Both of which have been posted to our corporate site, www.renaissance.com, at the press releases link under the news and market data tab. We undertake no obligation and we specifically disclaim any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time. In addition, some of the financial measures that we may discuss this morning are non GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of the non GAAP measures in our earnings release to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in such release. And now I will turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin D. Chapman.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kelly, and good morning. Third quarter results continue to show momentum in achieving our financial goals adding talent and gaining market share. Adjusted earnings per share in the third quarter were $0.86, up 12% from 1 year ago. Adjusted return on average assets was 1.16% in the quarter compared to 1.09% in the same period last year. Similarly, adjusted return on average tangible common equity was 14.5% versus 14.2% in the third quarter of 2025. The efficiency ratio also improved 57.7% this quarter. Our core business continues to perform well, Highlights this quarter include strong loan and core deposit growth, record level of loan production, a stable core net interest margin, a reduction in problem credits, a reduction in expenses, and continued buybacks. While EPS declined linked quarter, this was primarily due to a higher provision driven by the ramp-up in loan growth. In addition, we are pleased this morning to announce the merger with Commercial Bank and Trust, which will strengthen our presence in Memphis and provide solid, long tenured deposit and wealth management relationships throughout Western Tennessee. We are looking forward to welcoming Mark Ford and the commercial team to Renasant and, importantly, we do not believe this deal will distract us from the market share opportunities we continue to see across our footprint. Altogether, Renasant is in a great position to continue to improve financial performance and capitalize on growth opportunities in the commercial acquisition will be added into that momentum. I will now turn the call over to Jim to provide more details on the financial results.

James C. Mabry

Management

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning. Looking at the balance sheet, loans were up $155.9 million on a linked-quarter basis. Or 11.5% annualized. Deposits were down $73.2 million from the second quarter or 1.3% annualized. Primarily due to outflows of public fund deposits and a couple larger noncore higher cost relationships offset by about 8% annualized growth in consumer and commercial deposits. Reported net interest margin decreased 6 basis points to 3.77%, while adjusted margin was down 2 basis points at 3.58%. Excluding the accelerated bond discount accretion last quarter, core net interest margin was up 2 basis points linked-quarter. Our total cost of deposits increased by only 1 basis point to 1.97%, while our adjusted loan yields increased 5 basis points to 6.08%. From a capital standpoint, all regulatory capital ratios remain in excess of required minimums to be considered well capitalized. We record a credit loss provision on loans of $13.3 million comprised of $10.1 million for funded loans, and $3.2 million for unfunded commitments. Net charge offs were $10 million, and the ACL as a percentage of total loans declined 4 basis points quarter over quarter to 1.50%. Turning to the income statement, our pre provision net revenue was $112.6 million. Net interest income was $228.6 million, an increase of $900 thousand quarter-over-quarter. Excluding fair value accretion, and the accelerated bond discount accretion last quarter, core net interest income increased $5.8 million linked-quarter or 11% annualized. Non interest income was $49.3 million in the third quarter, a linked-quarter decrease of $1.9 million which is primarily driven by a decrease in mortgage banking income. Noninterest expense was $160.3 million for the third quarter. a linked-quarter decrease of $1.2 million mostly driven by a decline in deferred compensation accruals. As to the commercial bank and trust transaction, we have provided a supplemental slide deck with details on this transaction. A few highlights The deal value is approximately $140 million. And is comprised of roughly 75% stock and 25% cash. Slide 4 provides an overview of Commercial's high quality, low cost core deposit base. We anticipate the deal to be approximately 4% accretive to EPS and 1.5% dilutive to tangible book value per share. With an estimated earn back of just under 2 years. We expect to see modest diminution to the capital ratios with CET1 being approximately 11% at close. We anticipate the deal to close sometime in the first quarter of 27. I will now turn the call back over to Kevin.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Jim. We believe that Renasant is in a position to continue high levels of performance while also taking advantage of opportunities created by industry consolidation. We appreciate your interest in Renasant, and look forward to discussing our results with you. I will now turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you very much, We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Stephen Scouten

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Please go ahead

Hi. Good morning. I guess maybe if I could start on deposits and just kind of thinking about with the strong loan growth you saw, how you think about the ability to fund that growth with deposit growth? I know you talked a lot about new customers coming on board recently. So just how that is developing and what you think can manifest moving forward?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Hey, Steven. Good morning. So yes, look, as we look at deposit growth, and look, if you look at total deposits, there is some noise in there and we try to lay out where that noise is. Particularly with some of our public funds. But if you look underneath that core deposits continue to grow in appreciable rate, I think in Q3, that number was close to a little bit over $300 million And so with the seasonality we see with public funds, you will start to see that reverse. As we get into the end of this year or early next year. So that will stop being a headwind and become a tailwind. But that has not distracted us or taken us away from the opportunity by growing core deposits. And also just on that public funds and maybe a little bit of insight is what the market is providing us with an opportunity. Is as we look at our cost of deposits, relative to our peers, it is a tick or 2 higher than where we want it to be. Our cost deposits are a little bit higher. And we can attribute that largely to some of the makeup and a little bit of a concentration in public funds. And so over time, we want to reduce that reliance. there is typically a higher costing particularly in today's time where funding is more prevalent, everybody is looking for funding, the cost of those public funds have gone up and the market opportunities given us the ability to remix that funding. And really is driven on an effort to bring our cost of deposits down back in line with our peers and isolating that 1 difference. But as we look out we feel that having a balance sheet that and our strategy of growing our balance sheet in the mid single digits over time that allows us to properly fund it. And so I know this quarter deposits did not keep up with the loan growth, but over time, we expect that to be more in balance and more in line.

Stephen Scouten

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Please go ahead

Okay, great. Then maybe thinking about the deal alongside of that, it looks like a really nice deposit base, 150-year-old bank with a low loan to deposit ratio. Was that 1 of the primary strategic motivators on this deal? Or can you talk a little bit about what you liked and what drove that decision?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, no, thank you. And it is. We just a continued focus of growing a stable core deposit base. that is been our focus organically. And then the opportunity with M&A to augment and complement that is something that I think we have talked about that we would look at that. And I think if you look at commercial, and what it represents, very strong core funded deposit base with complementary wealth management that fits exactly the type of opportunity that would complement what we are doing. Said another way, I am not sure right now we have a limit to our appetite on core deposits. We continue to feel and see that deposits and funding are tightening up That our number 1 focus is continuing to grow our core deposit base. This just gives us a complementary opportunity to bolster and enhance what we are already working on at Renasant. And frankly, what we already have at Renasant but it just complements and look future opportunities that may sit that has a similar profile we would absolutely look at But I would say right now, our focus is commercial. And ensuring that we have a successful conversion and integration of their employees, our new teammates as well as our new customers. Got it. And just maybe last 1 for me. With strong loan growth and the pending deal, does that inhibit you from the repurchase utilization in the near term? Jim, do you want to take that?

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, Stephen. it is Jim. So clearly, you pointed out, we have got some cash in the in the deal mix. And that probably at the margin temper a little bit what we do in terms of buybacks but buybacks are very much on the table. The board reauthorized our program. Yesterday at $175 million. So we do intend to be active. It just may not be quite as active over the next 12 months as it was over the prior, but we will see sort of what emerges in the environment and what goes on with our share price and other things, but intend to be active just maybe not quite as active as we have been.

Stephen Scouten

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Please go ahead

Yep. Makes sense when you can deploy it into acquiring low cost deposits. Thanks for all the color. Thanks, guys.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Steve.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Rose with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Michael Rose

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Jim, I appreciate the color around the core NIM and some of the accelerated accretion this quarter. I think you said it was up 2 basis points ex some of that. Just how should we think about the next quarter or so, just given the response to some of Stephen's questions around deposits, and the like. Just trying to get a better sense for how that core NIM should move forward from here? Thanks.

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, Michael. So, yes, I think probably like I think a lot of banks in the quarter we feel good about the behavior of core NIM. Going forward. And so I would say that our outlook assuming I guess, as I think about the next few quarters, I think we are sort of modeling a December and 2 other hikes in 2027. And with that outlook, generally, we think there is some modest upside potential on that NIM. So and as you point out, we had good behavior in NIM from Q2 to Q3, particularly when you make allowance for the fact that Q2's NIM was a little higher than usual because of that extraordinary items. So we feel really good about behavior. Our core deposit cost was up, I think, 1 basis point, loan yields were up nicely in the quarter. And if we look at sort of data from the end of Q3 and September data, all those things point to modest improvement to the NIM over the next quarter or 2.

Michael Rose

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Very helpful, Jim. I appreciate it. And then Kevin, obviously, strong loan growth this quarter. Obviously, very strong loan production, a record moderating payoffs. How much of that acceleration really is from some of the investments you have made in talent over the past year or so versus maybe market disruption? Just trying to kind of level set what the drivers were. It seems like everything clicked this quarter. And I think you had talked about kind of a mid single digit loan growth kind of outlook. Is that the way we should think about 2027 or could it be potentially stronger just given some of those dynamics that I just laid out? Thanks.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So thank you, Michael. Just the last part of your question first. So we still feel confident that mid single digit balance sheet growth is the appropriate level of growth. And I mean, look, as we see as we see the environment and our outlook, we are still optimistic about being able to grow the balance sheet. We still have good commentary and dialogue with our customers. But I think if there is any hesitation to try to move that number up, from the mid single digits, it is just more concerned about from a macro backdrop. And so as we get clarity, about what the macro economy looks like and we might have a little bit more confidence to kind of push that number up. But right now, I think we are still very set on mid single digit growth and that is the appropriate level. As it relates to where that growth is coming from, I would say it is coming from all across the company. If we look at it from a geographic or from a region standpoint, everybody is contributing. We look at some of our specialty lines, secured lending, everybody's contributing. When we look at credit channels, whether it is consumer or commercial or small business or larger corporate, again, everybody is contributing to this. it is not coming from a single-off or 1 source. And honestly, that is exciting to see because it means everybody's plugged in and capturing opportunity throughout their market. And also, think it is indicative of the investments that we made not so much this year, the talent that we have hired, but really bringing First and their team on board and allowing them to continue to achieve success, expand opportunity, capabilities. I think that is what we are seeing this year. Which means the built up demand, the opportunity from the hiring that we have done this year and by the way, we this past quarter we added another 11 revenue producers to the team, there will be the opportunity to continue to take market share that is not quite reflected in the balance sheet yet.

James C. Mabry

Management

And I would just add to that, Mike, on the right hand side of the balance sheet, Kevin spoke earlier that underlying core deposit growth was around 8% annualized for the quarter. And of that 8%, a little over half, almost 60% of that 8% were from deposit customers who were new to and who previously had no account with Renasant. So I think that speaks. And we have had that we had that in Q2, as well. So I think the momentum certainly in the right hand side of the balance sheet is there. We expect that to carry over on the left hand side of the balance sheet. In terms of market share gains and net new customers to Renasant.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. And sorry, to continue to belabor a point, but I mentioned just some of the uncertainty about the macro outlook. And again, just want to level set the mid single digits. Because we do not want to try to force balance sheet growth and we already see very tight competition from a yield standpoint So if we set higher levels of expectations or try to push to get higher levels of growth we may have to give on something to be able to get that. And we are not going to sacrifice credit We are not going to sacrifice yield. We are going to be relevant, we are going to be competitive, but do not want to try to force something and make a bad decision just because of trying to set an expectation of higher levels of balance sheet growth. We needed to come at the proper level of margin. And the proper level of underwriting and credit risk as well. So that is just a level set. I think we have talked about this in the past. That mid single digit, we feel that gives us the ability to have a stable to expanding margin and grow the balance sheet at our historical credit risk. I appreciate all the color. that is very helpful. Kevin, everyone, I will step back.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, Michael. The next question comes from Matt Olney of Stifel. Please go ahead.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

Hey guys, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I will ask about just expenses. Saw some really good trends in the third quarter and you mentioned Kevin hiring a number of new producers in 3Q on top of the ads we saw the first half of the year. So it looks like expense trends are kind of well contained. Would love to appreciate any additional outlook here on the expense outlook. Thanks.

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, Matt. And this is Jim. So, we were pleased with the behavior of the expense line in the quarter. And as to see that number continue to trend down think as we look to Q4, our outlook is for a slight increase in expenses, which could almost be 100% tied to what Kevin referred to earlier in these hires. We have had really good success taking advantage of the dislocation and making some key hires and we expect that to continue in Q4. So I would say that core behavior away from dislocation opportunities remains very solid and steadfast. But again, I think you will see the number inch up a little bit because of the hires we have made. The other thing I would mention, which of course you would appreciate, there will probably be a little bit of noise in Q4 because we have got we will have likely some merger expenses related to commercial. Okay.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

Great. Appreciate the color there. And then I guess going back to the margin commentary that you provided earlier, any more color you can provide on just competitive pressures on both loans and deposits? Any notable changes from what you are hearing more recently compared to a few months ago?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Not really a change. I would just say this past year, it is been competitive. Just particularly from a rate standpoint. What has become more pronounced maybe over the last quarter and we saw this in Q2 is the competition on the deposit side. That continues everybody's searching for funding. And I think if you look at our cost of deposits with what we have been able to grow and keeping cost of deposits relatively flat, maybe it was up a basis point or 2 It shows where our focus is around where we have the opportunity to grow core deposits. I think Jim mentioned just some of that core deposit growth that we had in Q3. That came on at a rate call it, in the mid twos and that. that is a percentage point to 1.5 percentage points less than the wholesale rates or even some of the product offerings that we are seeing in the market. So everything from a pricing standpoint, everything just continues to remain competitive. I think the dynamic in Q3 is that you saw the yield curve shift up, rates were up particularly in the 5- and the 10-year point of the curve. And we work to move our yields up but spreads did not necessarily expand during that same time. And so that is what we talk about with those competitive pressures is that the spreads just continue to be very tight, which means competition. It just is very competitive for that good balance sheet growth that everybody is looking for.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

Okay, guys. Thanks for all the responses. I will step back.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, Matt. The next question comes from Will Jones with KBW. Please go ahead.

Will Jones

Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead

Yes. Hey, great. Thanks. Good morning, guys.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Good morning, Will. Hey, so I know just a couple questions, 1 with the deal, couple with the quarter. I know we never model revenue synergies with these transactions. But what you call a nice little wealth business they got there. Maybe just talk about what would you see opportunity wise there? If I heard you right, another Commercial Bank & Trust were to come along, Renasant is still very much open for M&A. if that kind of size and deal parameter were to come along? Yes. So let me just clarify. So I would say that the opportunity with commercial fits the profile of what we are looking for. Not necessarily looking to stack up a bunch of things, but this is the profile of what we are looking for. On just on the revenue synergies, we have not really modeled any revenue synergies. We do believe there will be opportunity for that. With their wealth management, as we noted, they have got over $1 billion in assets under management in the wealth division. Largely concentrated in trust. We have a trust department and so we are excited about the opportunity to expand and enhance our trust capabilities in wealth management. And also, their growth in wealth management has particularly in trust has been at a notch or 2 higher than ours. So there could be the opportunity for revenue synergies. But it may be more on the Renasant side and what we can learn from them about strategies to pick up trust business throughout our footprint and as much as the opportunity with them. Got it. Okay. I appreciate all that. Helpful commentary.

Will Jones

Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead

Jim, maybe 1 for you. Just on the balance sheet, I know borrowings were a little bit higher in the quarter just as we had ahead of the seasonal public fund runoff. The expectation as you guys feel better about deposit pipeline next quarter that we would start to see those balances decline as you replace with some of this expected deposit growth?

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, Will. it is a good question. And we obviously our loan to deposit ratio has inched up a little bit and I think we are 90%, 91%. And I think for us, we would not want to get much above that. And so we will be looking at that funding mix and we saw some really encouraging things in Q3 about that core deposit growth. Which was sort of masked by trying to exit some higher costing deposits. So our hope and our goal remains to match loan growth as close as we can with deposit growth. And clearly, that is a tougher thing now than it has been historically but we feel really good about the things we are seeing in terms of sort of our deposit engine working well. So the goal is to try to match that and look, we do not want to be reliant on wholesale funding. And whether that is advances or broker deposits, that is not really part of our plan. And so think whether it is next quarter or in subsequent quarters, our goal would be to we like operating with zero balances both at the FHLB and with brokered deposits and that is a goal. Yeah. Okay. that is fair enough.

Will Jones

Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead

Maybe last for me. We do not really spend a ton of time talking about credit. Especially with where it is on a public at MPA trends, criticized trends, everything continues to show modest improvement every quarter. You know, we still find ourselves with a pretty high level of reserves just on a percentage basis. Is there a point in time where that starts to bleed down or we can reliably feel comfortable taking reserve levels down just as we remain relatively benign credit wise.

David Meredith

Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead

Will. Good morning. This is David Meredith. And I think what you will see over the past couple of quarters is you have seen just what you have stated. As we have continued to have improved asset quality, our criticized and classifieds come down 4 quarters in a row as you pointed out. Our NPAs have been down. For the past 2 quarters. And commensurate with that, you could see the we have brought down our reserve levels just as our model dictates based on the improvement of our asset quality as we continue to resolve problem loans criticized by the NPLs, so forth, past dues come down. Our reserve requirements commensurate with that have come down. So we have seen that number come down from, I want to say, 1.56, 1.57 a couple of quarters ago to 1.54 last quarter to 1.50. And so we would foresee as we continue to improve asset quality, the expectation would be our model would dictate that reserve level would continue to come down. So we follow the model based on need for loan growth, what our asset quality is telling us and so the past couple quarters based on that improvement, we have seen just that, that the reserve level's Need has come down.

Will Jones

Analyst · KBW. Please go ahead

Okay. Guys, thanks for the questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, Will. The next question comes from David Bishop with Hovde Group. Please go ahead.

David Bishop

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

Yeah. Good morning. Hey, I was wondering if I could circle back to Matt's question. Just curious, Kevin or Jim, if you knew or had offhand, what the new rates on loan production were this quarter relative to last quarter? What are you seeing on that front?

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, David. I can give you a couple of data points that are hopefully helpful as you think about modeling our results. So if you look at core loan yield in Q3, was about 6.11%. And if you look at new and renewed in the quarter, it was roughly 6.19%. and I will give you a -- it is always a little -- giving spot numbers is a little treacherous because 1 month can be a little deceiving. But if the month of September, you look at new and renewed loan yields, it was 6.35%. 35. Okay. Got it.

David Bishop

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

And then I may have missed this at the beginning, apologies if so. Obviously, a very strong production quarter. Just curious how the pipelines are compares exiting the quarter, was that sort of dampened out? Are you seeing sort of any impact from higher rates impacting maybe the commercial real estate pipeline?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Hey, David. Good morning. Yes, we have seen a little bit of pullback in the pipeline. But honestly, it still remains a healthy pipeline. So it is a little bit of a pullback from what we saw compared to the beginning of Q3. But we still see we are still having dialogue and conversations with customers pipeline has not gone to zero. And we continue to expect to have a have a good quarter as we look at Q4. With the holidays towards the end of the year, things might slow down a little bit. But just looking at our pipeline, our pipeline continues to remain healthy.

David Bishop

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

Got it. And then, Kevin, you know, obviously, the opportunity sort of jumps off the page with the commercial acquisition on the deposit front. Any prospects to grow the loan book? Anything any niches there or markets they operate in that excites you from a from a loan growth perspective?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So I think in a couple of areas. I mean, 1, they just they have a very similar, very granular loan portfolio, so very similar to us. So they will absolutely be opportunities that we can have or we can help enhance what they already do, particularly from a consumer or a commercial side we will be able to manage larger relationships that maybe today they cannot manage the full relationship. So we think that there is I say manage it from a balance sheet capacity standpoint, not so much from a talent standpoint, but a balance sheet capacity standpoint. So I think there is real opportunity to be able to complement 1 another, no different than how we have done in prior mergers. But just on a combined basis, be able to enhance, provide more opportunity from what Renasant would bring to the table as well as complement what their team has there in Memphis. The exciting thing about this is that we do overlap. In Memphis with commercial there is still plenty of opportunity in that market where we will not be stepping on each other's toes. So expecting a good integration of both teams there in that overlapping market in Memphis.

David Meredith

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

And David, I will add to just like Kevin said, just expanding a little bit. We did with First, the complementary lines of business we have that they offer be it asset-based lending as factoring. We saw it with First the ability to leverage their C&I customer book into some of those specialty lines of business paid huge dividends for us and the expectation to come with the acquisition, of commercial would expect the same results.

David Bishop

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

Got it. I guess 1 final question, circling back to credit. I think the narrative noted 1 credit driving the increase in charge offs provisions. Any color around that single credit?

David Meredith

Analyst · Hovde Group. Please go ahead

Sure. David, we had recognized that as a problem loan back in Q1 of this year. So we have been carrying material level of impairment on that asset for a couple of quarters while we sought to fully value the assets. We received that value of those assets back in Q3, and so we went ahead and charged it down to what we believe to be the realizable value. it is a single credit in the C&I space. We view it to be a 1-off transaction and hopefully based on that valuation, we have written it down to our realizable value. Appreciate all the color.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, David. The next question comes from Janet Lee with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Janet Lee

Analyst · TD Cowen. Please go ahead

Hi, good morning.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Good morning.

Janet Lee

Analyst · TD Cowen. Please go ahead

Apologies if I missed this, but in your expectations around core NIM in improving a little bit, what is the cycle to date or through the cycle interest bearing deposit beta being assumed in that assumption?

James C. Mabry

Management

Good morning, Janet. This is Jim. So in terms of interest bearing deposit beta, I think near term it is probably upper 40s, low 50s and it sort of graduates from near to mid 50s is what we have got in our model.

Janet Lee

Analyst · TD Cowen. Please go ahead

Okay. Got it. And maybe for Kevin, you have been adding a lot of revenue producers, 11 this quarter, and there continues to be a fair amount of disruption across your markets. You have talked about this a little bit, but can you just give us more details around where you think you are in this investment cycle today? And as you balance continued opportunities to add talent with getting productivity from the investments you have already made, how should we think about the trajectory for ROTCE over the next 12 months?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So thank you. I still think that when it comes to some of the talent displacement, we are still in the middle innings. Of this. We still see the opportunity to pick up to pick up good talent that complements what we are already doing. In some cases, it is replacing existing talent. it is not just necessarily a net add to staff, it is replacing maybe some holes that we have and we are trying to upgrade talent in certain markets. So we have put a premium on wealth management talent, on treasury management, cash management talent, As well as solid well known bankers throughout our market, not lenders, but bankers. And I still feel like we are a little bit in the middle innings of this. And as we look at how that should change our growth projections, Right now, what we really see is it more just solidifying our outlook on that mid single digit and that is just not only loan growth, that is deposit growth as well and gives us greater confidence that the opportunity to grow at a faster pace is there if we can get it at the proper spreads and under the proper credit underwriting terms. But, again, just to kind of summarize your question, still feel like we are in the middle innings but where we are focusing has really been on revenue producers that really drive the sticky type of revenue that is around wealth management, treasury management, and then solid core bankers.

Janet Lee

Analyst · TD Cowen. Please go ahead

Got it. Thanks for that. And if I could add just 1 more. Commercial deal makes a lot of sense, small, strong core deposits. Wealth angle. On M&A, ROTCE, when your ROTCE was below peers, it was easier to see how M&A and cost saves could help close that gap. And now that you are more in line with peers, that 15% to 16%, how is your thinking around M&A changed What do you need to get out of a deal for it to create incremental value from here?

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So, 1, I think all M&A is at a higher bar. Just looking at what the market opportunities are. And so as we looked at opportunity to partner with commercial, That was 1 of our decisions to 1 of the go, no-go decisions was would this create a distraction? Would it take us away from our organic growth And just given its size, given that it is really isolated in 1 area of our footprint, It will be we will have we will go through a conversion, we will go through an integration. We are not dismissing that. We did not feel like it would be a broad based distraction throughout the company. So the rest of our teams will continue to focus on just continuing to grow organically, capturing opportunity, capturing market share. But it does require a higher hurdle M&A does, just given, 1, our baseline of where ROTCE is today compared to in the past. But then also, just the risk associated with the distraction, it just requires a higher hurdle Jim, any specifics you want to give as it relates to the impact on ROA, ROTCE, or efficiency just from the deal itself?

James C. Mabry

Management

Yes, I would be happy to. So, Janet, on ROTCE, this is these are fully phased in numbers. So we have got, I think, roughly half of our expense saves occurring in 2017 and 100% in 2018. But that sort of fully phased impact is about 70 basis points accretive to ROTCE, roughly 5 basis points accretive to NIM and 5 basis points to ROA.

Janet Lee

Analyst · TD Cowen. Please go ahead

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is a follow-up from Matt Olney. Please go ahead.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

Yes. Hi, guys. Just a few follow ups here. The accretion levels took a little step down this quarter. Jim, color or guidance you can provide on expectations for the accretion from here?

James C. Mabry

Management

Sure. And Matt, I want to correct 1 thing I said to you earlier. About core loan yields. So, in the quarter, we were at 6.08% and for the month of September, it was 6.11%. I think I misspoke on that. But, yeah, on accretable yield, I would say this, it is it is really difficult and challenging to predict the accelerated part of that. And with the backdrop of higher rates, payoffs have probably been pushed out some. So that is definitely affected that accelerated piece of accretable yield. I think the way we are looking at Q4 is to maybe give you some numbers that might be helpful. I think total accretable yield will be around $10 million. that is our current sort of estimate. And about $1 million of that would be accelerated. And clearly, the rate environment will have a lot to do with this, but that accelerated piece will start to move itself down and both pieces will, but the accelerated piece will probably move itself down during the course of 2027. Okay. Thank you. that is helpful. And appreciate that is, as you said, not easy to predict there.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

And then just on the fee side, anything to call out the fees look like mortgage is a little bit softer this quarter. A big surprise given what we have seen from some of your peers with higher rates. Any other thing to call out on the fee side, any outlook there you can share? Thanks.

James C. Mabry

Management

Sure. I would say the fee outlook for Q4 is for probably a little more softness. So I think there is and that is much of that is driven by mortgage. it is just very challenging environment. There are a lot of good things going on within mortgage. We have made some really good hires in legacy Renasant markets but also some of the new markets, but it is just a it is a difficult backdrop with rates where they are. So I think we are expecting mortgage to again be soft in Q4 and it is a seasonally tough quarter as well. So in terms of other income, I would think that what we would see is largely it is probably a modest decline there driven mainly by mortgage. We have not seen capital markets has been soft for us during the year. I think that I think we hopefully will see some encouraging signs in the quarters ahead there that will see that line item grow. Wealth has been very stable and we have had some low single digit increases in wealth and we expect that to continue. Okay.

Matt Olney

Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead

Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, Matt. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kevin D. Chapman for any closing remarks.

Kevin D. Chapman

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, George, and thank you to those that listened to our call this morning. We appreciate your interest in the company and look forward to meeting with you throughout the quarter. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.